


hide and seek is a dangerous game

by nickbonino



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Multi, also disclaimer this was written waaay before the ransom/holster arc in the new manager update, but i just wanted everyone to be happy, chowder is devious af and i love him for it, god bless him he fixes everyone's shit, so minor canon divergence, so this happened, this is extremely stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 15:38:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickbonino/pseuds/nickbonino
Summary: Chowder suggests they play hide-and-seek. It has interesting consequences.





	hide and seek is a dangerous game

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted [here](http://asexualdex.tumblr.com/post/153490574699/prompt-smh-plays-hide-and-seek-in-the-haus)

It’s Chowder’s idea.

Shitty and Jack show up at the Haus around 9pm, with a plan to casually hang out with the team before everyone goes home for winter break. The resident members plus Nursey, Dex and Farmer are already squished into the living room and greet them enthusiastically (and extremely loudly on Holster’s part). Jack and Shitty are quickly pulled into the room and are each given a beer. There are no plans to drink heavily tonight, just to catch up, get slightly buzzed, and bask in the company of family.

Well, some of them are relaxed and planning to bask. Others, however, have some goddamn issues to work out.

Chowder’s been dealing with the brunt of the miscommunication between certain SMH members for a while now and he is done. He’s done and he’s scheming. So, when it reaches midnight and everyone’s flushed and content and caught up on everyone else’s lives he loudly suggests that they play Haus hide-and-seek.

Shitty immediately latches onto the idea, followed by Ransom and Holster. And as soon as they decide on something there’s no way out of it, no matter how much Nursey groans about how comfortable he is right now and how Dex rolls his eyes in response. Holster immediately shouts ‘NOT IT’ and everyone soon follows, except Chowder, who deliberately holds out until last.

“Well, C, looks like you’re searching man,” Lardo says.

“Oh, what a shame, I wanted to hide,” Chowder lies.

“Chowder, honey, I don’t mind. I’ll count.”

“No Bits. That’s going against the rules of ‘Not It’. You can’t just break the rules, bro!” Chowder breathes a sigh of relief as Shitty jumps in. He needs to be seeking if this is going to work.

“Well, guess I’m it! 1, 2, 3, 4…” Chowder closes his eyes and starts counting, hearing the rest of the team scramble out of the living room. All except Farmer, who leans in next to him to whisper in his ear.

“You’re setting them up aren’t you?”

“10, 11, Cait, they’re all driving me crazy! 12, 13,” he exclaims between counting. “Nursey keeps moping about Dex, and Dex keeps deliberately not moping about Nursey, 17, 18, 19. I know Lardo is stressed out about Shitty because after every Skype call she wanders into my room and, 23, 24, starts moving stuff around saying it’s for artistic inspiration, 27, 28.

“Ransom and March broke up and I know it was because of Holster but Ransom still hasn’t said anything and Holster still looks like a kicked puppy, 33, 34. I can’t take it! 35. They could all be happy so easily but they don’t talk about anything so now, they’re gonna have to! 40, 41. I mean Bitty and Jack are the only people I can rely on to be in a normal relationship right now and they haven’t seen each other in almost two weeks, 45, 46, so I guess this’ll give them time to catch up. 49, 50! Coming, ready or not!”

He opens his eyes to find Cait grinning at him and nodding.

“Found you.” He smiles at her.

“Oh darn. Well, guess I’ll have to help you then.” She leans back in to whisper. “I’m so in on this plan. Let’s just look for a bit and then head home.” Farmer pauses and then grins again. “I can think of some other things we could be doing while they all sort their shit out.”

Chowder blushes, nods quickly, and gets to his feet. Farmer stands too, taking his hand and pulling him out of the living room whilst exclaiming loudly.

“I wonder where everyone could be?”

 

Bitty scrambles from the circle of people on the floor, pulling Jack up with him. They stumble into the kitchen to the sound of Chowder counting and then stop to look around for possible hiding places.

“You can’t hide in the oven, Bits,” Jack jokes, grinning down at his boyfriend, who appears to be sizing up Betsy 2.0.

“Not with that attitude, Mr Zimmermann,” but he does look away from the oven, instead focusing on the table.

“You think we could both fit under there?” Jack asks, gesturing to the relatively small square table.

“Well, we’ll have to squeeze, but that wouldn’t be a problem now, would it?” Bitty responds, smiling coyly up at Jack.

Jack flushes but doesn’t disagree, instead taking a step closer to Bitty. Just as he’s about to lean down and kiss him, Chowder shouts from the living room. Their eyes widen and they quickly attempt to dash under the table, loudly disrupting the chairs.

Jack ends up furthest under the table with Bitty sitting between his legs, his back pressed against Jack’s chest. They both hold their breath as Chowder and Farmer enter the kitchen. Bitty tries to pull his legs up even further to hide his feet from sight. The sophomores begin circling the room. Chowder actually does check inside the oven, which causes Jack to poke Bitty in the ribs, a silent joke at how predictable Bitty can be. Bitty lets out a squeak in response and both Chowder and Farmer freeze.

“I, uh, think that came from the stairs,” Farmer hedges.

“Yup, definitely. Let’s go.” The couple quickly vacate the kitchen, closing the door as they leave.

Bitty lets out a sigh of relief and leans further back against Jack.

“That was almost too easy,” Jack murmurs against Bitty’s neck.

Bitty breathes in sharply at the sensation and is about to reply when he feels lips against his pulse. He lets out another squeak.

“J-Jack, what if they come back?”

He almost moans in response to Jack sliding his hands around Bitty’s waist. Jack inches his hands under Bitty’s t-shirt.

“They won’t.” Jack presses another kiss to Bitty’s neck. “I’ve missed you.”

Bitty’s resolve crumbles at this and he scoots forward only to turn around onto all fours, pull Jack towards him by his knees and then push him down onto his back under the table. Bitty leans over Jack to kiss him, they both moan quietly as their bodies press together.

“Honey, I’ve missed you so much.”

 

Dex makes it to Chowder and Lardo’s bathroom in what could be considered a Haus record. He jumps into the tub and immediately pulls the shower curtain across. He knows it’s not the most inventive place to hide but he has a horrible feeling that this game will last a while and he doesn’t want to be stuck somewhere uncomfortable for an extended period of time.

He hears the rest of the team scattering about the Haus, then silence. Chowder yells, more silence. Then joint footsteps coming up the stairs.

Suddenly, the bathroom door on Chowder’s side opens and Dex freezes. The curtain is pulled back, only to reveal Nursey.

“HO-ly shit, dude,” Nursey exclaims, stumbling back slightly.

“Shut the fuck up, they’re coming,” Dex angrily whispers back.

Footsteps can be heard on the landing and Dex makes a snap decision. He pulls Nursey into the bath, only just stopping the brunette from smacking his head on the tile, and pulls the shower curtain across again.

“Ow, Dex. What the fuck?”

“Derek, will you please be quiet? Or do you not understand the rules of hide-and-seek?” Dex murmurs.

Nursey shuts his mouth, for a second at most. Then he’s grinning.

“Since when am I Derek?” He smirks.

Chowder’s voice can be heard from his room through the door Nursey forgot to shut properly and Dex uses this as an excuse to slap a hand over Nursey’s mouth. It doesn’t stop his furious blush, however.

Chowder and Farmer appear to leave Chowder’s room relatively soon and Dex removes his hand, but not before Nursey licks it at least twice.

“Gross, Nursey.”

“I think you mean Derek.” Nursey grins back, smugly.

Dex doesn’t answer, doesn’t want to give Nursey the satisfaction. He just rolls his eyes and shuffles so they’re sitting at opposite ends of the tub, facing each other.

“You can call me Derek if you want.” Nursey says, eventually.

“What?” Dex frowns.

“We’ve come a long way, dude. It’s nothing like Freshman year. We get each other now. I mean we still argue, but it’s fun, right?”

Dex doesn’t respond but he nods tightly.

“Like, bro,” Nursey shuffles forward until their crossed legs are touching, “we-we’re best friends, aren’t we?” Nursey asks. He seems nervous, running his hand through his hair self-consciously.

Dex swallows.

“Y-yeah, ‘course we are.”

“So you can call me Derek if you want. I mean, like, Jack has stopped calling Bitty ‘Bittle’. If he can do that, you can call me by my first name,” Nursey continues.

“Yeah, well, Jack and Bits are dating.”

Dex doesn’t realise how that could be interpreted until it’s out of his mouth.

“I, uh, I mean…” He trails off, refusing to look at Nursey. Instead he stares resolutely at their socked feet and tries to control the blush on his face.

“You mean what, Dex?” Nursey asks softly. “Sorry, Will.”

Dex’s head whips up at that.

“If you can call me Derek, I can call you Will, right?” Nursey asks. He’s clearly trying to be chill but his hands are shaking slightly and now he’s the one looking at their feet.

Dex stares at him, trying to figure out if Nursey means this the same way Dex means this. Very slowly, he reaches out to take one of Nursey’s trembling hands in his. He hears Nursey breathe in sharply, feels Nursey squeeze his hand.

“Derek.” Dex murmurs.

That’s all it takes for Nursey to look up, lean forward and press their lips together. Dex gasps into the kiss and finds himself using his free hand to pull Nursey closer. Dex grips his shirt and tugs until they both rise up; kneeling in the bathtub, plastered against each other, thigh to chest to mouth.

Dex is too busy listening to Nursey’s chants of _Will, Will, Will,_ that intersperse their kissing to hear quiet footsteps leaving Chowder’s bedroom.

 

The window from Bitty’s room to the reading room is already open when Lardo jumps through it. That should have been her first sign.

The second sign is the groan of pain her window leap elicits from Shitty who is lying on his stomach, side pressed against the wall, as she lands on top of him, elbow in kidney.

“Ow, fuck. Lards, low blow.” Shitty moans, although he’s grinning when he says it. He grins at her like that a lot lately. It’s confusing.

Lardo rolls off him and shuffles around until she’s pressed against the wall under Chowder’s window, face to face with Shitty.

“Sorry, Shits. It’s an intense game. Every person for themselves.” Lardo replies, after she’s comfortably situated.

Shitty snorts and leans forward to kiss her. Lardo sighs happily, sighs in frustration, and then frowns.

“What’s up, Doc?” Shitty asks immediately, looking concerned.

“It’s nothing, Shits. Tired.” Lardo evades, she really doesn’t want to be the one to bring this up. She’s probably going to have to, though.

Shitty’s brow furrows but he doesn’t push. That’s what she loves about him. There are a lot of things she loves about him. Except the fact that she doesn’t know if he feels the same way.

It’s dumb and she can’t help but berate herself for feeling insecure but on the night after Jack’s game everything happened so quickly. Shitty kissed her and they slept together and everything was wonderful. Shitty got her coffee and they went to brunch and everything was perfect. Shitty left and they didn’t talk about it and they still haven’t talked about it and everything is confusing.

“Lards, babe, are you sure you’re okay?” Shitty asks again, eventually. After watching her entire monologue play out on her face.

Lardo’s tired of the ambiguity.

“Are we dating?” She asks bluntly.

“What?!” Shitty exclaims and then suddenly quiets as he hears people searching Bitty’s room.

He continues to stare at her, with an expression akin to a confused puppy, which slowly morphs into saddened understanding as Farmer sticks her head out of Bitty’s window, looks out (not down) and tells Chowder there’s no one out there.

When Chowder and Farmer eventually leave Bitty’s room and retreat down the hallway, Shitty shifts forward enough to rest his elbows in front of Lardo and cup her jaw with his hands.

“Larissa Duan, I am sorely amiss. I fucked up big time and I’m sorry. I am very much in love with you and I thought you knew and god fucking damn I’ve wanted to date you, to be your boyfriend or whatever you want to call it, for as long as I can remember. I was waiting for you to call the shots and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I want you in every sense of the word. You mean the world to me. So, please, do me the honour of letting me be your boyfriend.”

Lardo thinks she probably stopped breathing after the I love you. She probably also started welling up at about that point too.

“Shits, you gotta stop making me cry on this stupid roof.” Damn it, she meant to say _I love you too._ But Shitty is smiling at her, it’s blinding. She kisses him because she’s never wanted to do anything more. His lips are warm and he smells faintly of weed and coffee and she eventually pulls back because he said important things and she hasn’t, yet.

“I love you too. More than anything. I would love for you to be my boyfriend.”

 

Ransom immediately runs up the stairs to the attic. He can hear Holster following and both internally rejoices because _Holster_ but also flushes because _Holster!_ There’s a lot going on in that area at the moment.

They eventually reach the top floor and unsurprisingly both dive under the bunk beds as soon as they burst into their bedroom.

“Dude, hive mind,” Holster exclaims as they shuffle under the bed on their stomachs to lie next to each other.

“Totally,” Ransom replies, not willing to admit that he’d waited a fraction of a second to see what Holster would do and then followed him. Seems like he’s considering doing that a lot these days.

“Something up, bro?” Of course Holster would figure out something was off from one word. Goddamn it why did he have to have such an attentive and perfect best friend?

“Nah, nah, it’s all good, Holtzy.” Ransom aims for breezy, but it’s difficult to achieve when he’s got Holster all pressed up against his right side and the knowledge that if they turned their heads towards each other right now they’d probably kiss.

“Rans, what’s up?” Holster’s using his coral reef voice, one that he usually reserves for when Ransom is particularly stressed. It’s quiet and caring and if Holster keeps talking like that Ransom’s not going to be able to keep this in much longer.

Ransom just shakes his head, “it’s nothing, no worries.”

“Is it about March? I know you said you were fine but it’s only been a couple of weeks,” Holster murmurs, his voice getting quieter in lieu of the footfalls on the attic stairs.

Ransom opens his mouth to reply when Chowder and Farmer reach the attic. He shuts his mouth and just shrugs instead. He can practically feel Holster vibrating in his need to reply and Ransom himself grows more anxious at the upcoming conversation that he ends up silently begging one of the Sophomores to find them. Unfortunately for his screaming brain, they do not and instead soon give up their pretty pathetic search and head back down the stairs.

“You can’t just shrug at that bro!” Holster eventually exclaims after he deems the threat to have retreated far enough to talk again.

“I can, I just did,” Ransom replies. He’s not deliberately trying to be difficult, he just _really_ doesn’t want to have this conversation.

Holster huffs and rolls his eyes before shifting onto his side, propping his head up on one arm so he can face Ransom without having to turn his neck uncomfortably.

 _Well fuck._ Ransom does the same and knows as soon as he looks at Holster’s distressed and kind of hurt face that if it’s all going to come tumbling out eventually, it might as well be now. He sighs.

“Kind of but not really. It was mutual. The break-up. We knew it wasn’t going to go anywhere after graduation and we bo- we both have people we think-hope something might go somewhere with, even after we leave Samwell.” Holster raises an eyebrow at this but doesn’t say anything. Ransom is grateful. He needs to get this all out now.

“But that’s not all.” Ransom takes a deep breath. “I think I want to take a year out after college.” Okay, that’s not exactly what he meant to say but Holster definitely needs to know that too.

“College has been tough and if I want to go to med school, I think I really need to sort myself out first, y’know?” Ransom shuts his eyes; this is the important part. “Also, I wanted to know what you were going to do. After college.”

He feels Holster shift slightly at that.

“I- the year out gives me time to think, sure. But I guess in the end, it also gives me time to follow you. If you want me to,” Ransom finishes in a rush, eyes still closed.

Holster is silent for a long moment.

“I’m the person you think something could go somewhere with after graduation?” Holster asks quietly. “You and March broke up because of me?” He sounds incredulous.

“And April…for March. But yeah. You.” Ransom whispers.

He opens his eyes to find Holster has shifted forward, eyes wide, a look of what could be interpreted as awe.

“You love me?” His voice is small.

“Well you already knew that, but yeah. I’m in love with you, Adam.” Ransom closes his eyes again, not ready to see whatever emotions are flitting across Holster’s face.

So he’s shocked when he feels lips against his own. He jerks back slightly, eyes wide, staring at Holster.

“You’re an idiot. We both are. Justin, I’ve been in love with you since sophomore year.”

Ransom feels like he’s going to cry. Instead he grins and kisses Holster again.

Eventually they pull apart, unable to keep kissing because they’re smiling like idiots.

“And, Rans, for the record, I’ll follow you anywhere after college, too.”

 

“I think I’d call that a raging success,” Farmer laughs as they walk back down the stairs to the front door.

“I’m just so happy!” Chowder exclaims. “Nursey and Dex finally sorted their shit out! I’ve had to deal with that for almost a year. Shitty and Lardo are actually a thing!! Officially, thank god. And honestly I was beginning to doubt if Ransom would ever confess to Holster but he did and they’re happy!!” Chowder does a pleased jig as they descend the porch steps.

“I’m proud of you, babe. This was a great idea.” Farmer smiles at Chowder. “Now, I think I promised some fun activities, and after all your hard work, you definitely deserve them.”

Chowder shivers and reaches out to pull Cait into a sloppy kiss. She bites at his lower lip, pulling a low groan out of him before leaning back and grabbing his hand. As Chowder lets himself be dragged along behind, he can’t help but think about how an innocent game of hide and seek turned into eight of his friends getting laid.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://asexualdex.tumblr.com)


End file.
